UN Public Service Day & Awards

About the United Nations Public Service Awards and Day

The United Nations Public Service Awards is the most prestigious international recognition of excellence in public service. It rewards the creative achievements and contributions of public service institutions that lead to a more effective and responsive public administration in countries worldwide. Through an annual competition, the UN Public Service Awards promotes the role, professionalism and visibility of public service.

The UN Public Service Day intends to celebrate the value and virtue of public service to the community; highlight the contribution of public service in the development process; recognize the work of public servants, and encourage young people to pursue careers in the public sector. Since the first Awards Ceremony in 2003, the United Nations has received an increasing number of submissions from all around the world.

Launch of the 2022 United Nations Public Service Awards

The annual UN Public Service Awards programme is now open for 2022 and UN DESA is calling for nominations! The award aims to promote and recognize transformative initiatives that fosters creativity and innovation in public services. It is open to all public organizations, including local and national governments, and public institutions engaged in public-private partnerships working towards the achievement of the SDGs. The 2022 programme has a special category on institutional resilience and innovative responses to the COVID-19 pandemic to highlight the effective responses and the continuation of the critical public services during the crisis.

While the announcement of the 2021 winners has been delayed due to the postponement of the UN Public Service Forum in light of the COVID-19 pandemic until December, the winning institutions have been individually notified. UN DESA is committed to highlight the crucial work of the public institutions for resilient recovery and sustainable development through sharing of innovative practices and creative solutions.

Applications are available at https://publicadministration.un.org/unpsa in all six UN official languages.

Apply online by 3 December 2021, Midnight, Eastern Standard Time (EST).

Briefing on the 2022 United Nations Public Service Awards

A virtual briefing session on the 2022 United Nations Public Service Awards (UNPSA) programme was be held to provide an overview of the programme and share past winners’ insight on the impact of the Award and how it has helped to promote innovation in their local and national governments. The briefing was be held 14 October at 12:00 PM EDT.

More information on the briefing is available here.

The recorded session of the briefing is available here.

Update on 2021 United Nations Public Service Awards

While the announcement of the 2021 winners was planned in June, the UN Public Service Forum and the Award Ceremony (UNPSF&A) have been rescheduled for December in the United Arab Emirates due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The public announcement of the winners will be made during the UNPSF&A. The winning institutions have been individually notified.

We sincerely thank you for your continued patience in this manner and we will provide more details as they become available.

Please email your questions to unpsa[at]un[dot]org but note the status of the institution's winning will not be made available until December.